1:11 PM — Two female Russian athletes have expanded on their assertion that a kiss between the pair after winning gold at the Moscow World Athletics Championships, was not meant as a protest against anti-gay laws in the country, and that they are "insulted" by the suggestion.

12:21 PM — The United Nations in Haiti has called on political and religious leaders to take charge in the battle against homophobic violence in the country and to encourage acceptance amid a rise in anti-gay violence.

11:52 AM — Commons Education Committee Chairman Graham Stuart has called for updated guidelines following revelations scores of schools have polices in place targeting the “promotion” of homosexuality.

11:35 AM — The Queen is the head of the Commonwealth of Nations, the international body that was created out of what was formerly the British Empire. The Commonwealth states that its core values are "democracy, freedom, peace, the rule of law and opportunity for all." However, freedom, peace and the opportunity for all are clearly denied to LGBT people in 41 of the 54 countries that are member states.

19th August 2013

7:42 PM — Swedish ice hockey star Victor Hedman, has noted the "positive" response he received after speaking out against Russia's anti-gay law, which was passed in June, and which bans the "promotion" of homosexuality.

7:14 PM — The human rights office of the United Nations has spoken out to condemn Russia's law, passed in June, which bans homosexual "propaganda", and has urged for Russia, as well as Moldova, to repeal such laws, and for other countries to scrap the potential adoption of identical legislation.

6:43 PM — Two Russian athletes who kissed on the podium after winning gold at the Moscow World Athletics Championships, have strongly denied claims that they did it as a protest against anti-gay laws passed in the country in June.

6:19 PM — A US Christian conservative group has voiced disapproval at the recently announced plans by the Pentagon to allow military service members in same-sex relationships leave to travel in states where equal marriage is legal, claiming that it is discriminatory towards straight people.

6:02 PM — The British Humanist Association says it has identified at least 45 schools that either replicate language banning the “promotion” of homosexuality in the classroom or are “unhelpfully vague on the issue.”

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